I have a new question about this model of washer. Mine has worked without a problem for at least a year, and probably for the three years it's been in commission. Now it washes fine, but when it goes into the spin cycle with any load, it makes a thunderous vibrating noise. I tried rotating the empty drum manually and there was no problem. My super opened the bottom panel and ran it to triage it and said that the 'legs' are fine, and that he thought that it might have a problem with the front guide. He didn't sound optimistic, however, and I'm giving it until tomorrow before I call a professional.
So I have two questions:

1) Is there any more information I can get before calling a repairman?
2) What's the best estimate of my probability of having to replace this?

asteysn2 wrote: IT SOUNDS AS THOUGH THE "SPIDER" BRACKET HAS BROKEN, AND IF IT HAS, FRIGIDAIRE WARRANTIES THEM FOR 25 YEARS. HOWEVER, IF THIS IS A "SEARS" OR A "KENMORE" PRODUCT, OR AS I ASSUME WAS PURCHASED AT SEARS, FRIGIDAIRE'S WARRANTY MY HAVE NO AFFECT ON YOUR MACHINE.

Can you grab the inner spin basket and move it up and down, not just turning but physically move it up and down and sideways. If so, major breakage, back drum support yoke has broken one or more of the three arms that attach to the spin basket.

The stainless steel tub and outer plastic tub have a 10 year warranty for parts, I believe. Problem is, part only covered under warranty, you have to pay labor. This is a very expensive job for even just labor.

Here's a link to the part CLICK HERE and you can see the part I'm talking about.

I can pull it forard so that it hits the front of the machine. maybe 2" displaced at the top of the drum - and push it back so that is hits something at the back, also maybe 2" of displacement. It's rotating around a point in back of the drum, on the axis. There's no side to side movement. Does it still sound like a broken spider? If so, I'm looking at $60 for parts and $ a lot for labor, right?

Edit: I've tried this on a different machine in the building, one with an undamaged spider, and the range of motion was the same. So I'm discounting a broken spider. I'm going to be able to open the back up this afternoon, so I'll post again.

I opened it up. The spider's fine, and the shocks and springs look fine. The concrete counter-weight is in place. Next guess is that the drive belt is slipping at high speeds, though it doesn't seem slack. Anything else I should be looking at?

Just to clarify what and where the potential broken spider arm is...when you pull on the inner tub(the stainless steel part) there should be no movement front to back in relation to the outer tub. Try moving it more like you are pulling on the inside drum and watch the space in front. The assembly as a whole unit will move the 2" as you described. Take a close look at the space in front to see if the inner drum is centered in relation to the outer tub. Usually some signs of plastic shredding appears at the front.

The spider is the five spoked wheel, part 26 in the exploded diagram of the drum assembly in the manual in the second post in the thread, right? If I'm referring to the right part, it's not damaged in any way.

hvacdrd wrote: No - the spider is located on the back of the inner tub, you cannot see it without a complete teardown. This is what it looks like on the inside...

And a broken spider would be consistent with thumping at high speeds / high load (for instance, two towels at the fast spin, full load at normal spin)? If yes, then I think that I'm beyond my skill and the super's skill.

Next step: call Sear's, or call a Frigidaire-authorized rep? The first seems like I'm going to get bad service, and the second sounds expensive. I'm a first-time shopper, so I'd appreciate advice.

The only other advice I can give is to check the shocks, if they break the tub becomes unstable in spin. Here is what they look like and you should be able to see them by removing the lower front cover only. The older ones were white plastic and more rounded in the center.

Grab the spin basket and see if the basket move front to rear. The nut may have backed off a little to cause the pulley to wobble on the shaft flats . If this keeps going ,it wears out the pulley and then the belt will just fall off. I have changed apx. 10 of these f/l under warranty work very time consuming, 3 to 4 hours depending on space to work around unit. Job list price repair , parts and labor apx. $450. [New rear half[